Smile Through the Tears
by TwinSoup
Summary: Their return was joyous, but it was the beginning of the realization that no one can always be happy. PostKHII, PreKHIII. Sora's POV.
1. Chapter 1

Smile Through the Tears

A/N: First Draft, written by ChickenBob. I'm trying a different style of writing for me. I hope you like it.

A/N: 4/16 – EDIT -- I think I got all those pesky errors out.

Chapter One- Reunion, Departure, Reunion

"Oh, look! A shooting star!" The little girl tugs at her brother's sleeve.

The boy looks up from his fishing net, just missing the flash of light. Chuckling, he says, "You know, it's most likely a comet. Stars aren't solid objects, sis…"

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They watch the vessel disappear from view, while stand on the shore. A late-evening tide laps at their feet, and the sky is dark and heavy above them.

One, the brunette, speaks first. "What now?"

"I guess… we go home now." The oldest boy says this flatly, as if such an event were common-place for them.

The girl's face is lit with a smile, and she is the first to dart to the small dock. The two boys follow, laughing, so glad to be home.

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The companions reach her house first. The lights are on, and she is glad that she would be welcomed home immediately.

The oldest turns to her with his aqua eyes sparkling. He embraces her. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

She laughs as they separate, wiping a tear from her eye. "That sounds so stupid." The boy smiles, and makes way for the brunette to say his farewell.

He approaches her, cautiously, almost sheepishly. They stand there for a few moments, not meeting each others' eyes. Finally he looks up from his feet, and instantly grins. She is beautiful in the dim light from the house.

She had been worth it.

He reaches out, taking her hand in his.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she says, blushing.

He nods. "Kairi, you promise?"

She steps back, releasing her hand from his grip.

"I promise."

She slips inside the house, leaving him in the dark of night.

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The two boys walk down a street dimly illuminated by the moon. They are silent in contentment. Home was still home, and no matter how far they traveled they always remember the way to their loved ones.

When they reach Riku's house, they turn to one another, realizing that their journey was truly over. They both are surprised that they are saddened by the thought.

"This is good!" Riku says, clapping the other on the shoulder. "This is where we're supposed to be."

The other one smiles, but says nothing.

Riku continues to grin, and quickly disappears into his house.

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The remaining boy reaches his home. He sees a dim light coming from the far back of the house, so he knows his parents are still awake. Before reaching for the spare key under the door mat, he closes his eyes, picturing their faces. How much can they change in two years?

He opens the door, and enters into the living room. It is exactly the same, except for a lot neater than he remembers it ever being before. His heart begins to beat faster. This is it, he thinks to himself. I am home.

His parents stumble into the living room from the back of the house, their eyes narrowed by sleep.

"Who's there?" The mother questions her son.

"Mom, Dad," he begins, knowing that they remember him, it's the sleep that's causing them difficulty. "It's me."

The couple quickly rub the tiredness from their eyes, startled at the voice, the familiar voice. And then they see him.

"Son…" The dad runs around the couch, and embraces the boy, sobbing. The mother follows, reaching her child and then collapsing into a tired, relieved, joyful, crying heap. The boy feels a few tears sting his eyes, but he's smiling.

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He is surprised that they don't ask him where he was, but he is grateful. How could he explain where he had been, what he had done? He had been worried, but it had passed, and now all that he felt was elation. He lies in bed, and stares at the familiar view out his bedroom window, content.

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The couple lay in bed, tired but happy after the reunion. Their boy was back, their child, the one that they had missed so much. It was right.

But one thing was wrong.

They stare at the ceiling, both knowing what was wrong but not knowing what to say.

The mother turns to the father, silent tears pouring from her eyes.

"I- I don't remember-" She begins to sob, softly so their child won't hear.

The father begins to cry as well, embracing his wife.

"I don't remember either," he manages to speak before his voice is engulfed in sadness as well.

They lay there for a while, angry at themselves, with the same thought running through their minds. How could we forget our son's name?


	2. Chapter 2: One Day Part One

Chapter 2: One Day

Part One -

He wakes to a silent house. Lying in bed for a long while, he tries to pick out any sound of movement- his parents cooking breakfast, talking, laughing. He craves the sound of their voices, footsteps, anything of theirs.

But there was none.

He expected them to be near him, always, when he finally returned. They should be with him now. Why aren't they with him?

Anger coursed through him momentarily, but he carefully masked it over with another thought.

"Bright side- I have the day to do whatever I want."

------

He wanders the all-too familiar town, seeing many people that he knows. But somehow he finds he doesn't want to approach them. There's something different about them. Something about the way they look at him.

He begins to feel a tinge of sadness, but it is whisked away with the scent of the ocean in the breeze.

He takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. It is sunny, clear. He can feel the sun warm his body like it had years before. People are all around him, laughing and talking, going about their lives.

"Normal."

After everything began, he never imagined he could have a normal life again.

Is this what it feels like?

He opens his eyes, and sees a familiar face several feet in front of him. It seems older, with a new level of maturity, but the bright blue eyes are unmistakable.

"Tidus?" he calls out to the other boy, and begins to approach.

Tidus turns his eyes to him, and his face is lighted with a smile.

"Hey!" He replies joyfully, but there's something different.

"Tidus, how've you been? It's so good to see you." He is still grinning, almost breathless with happiness.

Tidus is quiet, but studies him with that strange grin upon his face.

"Hey! I know you! We used to be friends, right?

------

So Tidus hadn't thought about him. That's fine, one person. They were never close friends anyway.

He is wandering again, trying to match names from his memory with the people spread out before him. It is a game, to keep his mind busy. He's not sure what else it could be.

He sees her, and his heart jumps. She's linked arms with Selphie, looking through the window shops and various vendors. He smiles, because she looks so happy.

He walks closer until he is but five feet away.

"Kairi."

He says just her name.

She turns to him.

A smile.

Then a frown.

She turns away from him, and resumes browsing the trinkets, laughing with Selphie.

He stands there, stunned.

------

(Sunset)

He climbs the hill, with the setting sun casting a bright red glow. Everything is illuminated, and even the dirt seemed to shine in the sun's fading glory. But he takes no notice.

He _is_. He'd been gone for two years, but he had told himself: Tidus _is _my friend. Wakka _is _my friend. My parents _are _my parents.

They kept telling him he _had been._

Past tense, as if he were still gone.

He had been gone, he understands that. But they hadn't thought about him? Wondered where he had gone?

Their memories were supposed to be restored. Where were those memories now?

He reaches the top of the hill at the same moments the sun was halfway down the sea. The water glitters and laps at the orb, seeming joyous in their reunion.

The play-island, where everything started, is in plain view. It seems so empty, so blank. As if it had been wiped clean of anything that had once been there.

He stares, looking for some sign of life, some sign that someone wanted to be _there._ And there is none.

She comes up from the other side of the hill, looking tired but happy. Her hair is windswept in the breeze, but she is still well-put together, still beautiful. He doesn't see her.

She stops walking, startled at seeing him staring into the distance. She watches him for some time, before speaking.

"It's just too much, you know?"

He doesn't hear her, or refuses to hear her. Stabs of guilt affect her for a few moments, but it's soon replaced with pity as she continues to watch him.

His shimmering eyes and smile are absent, and a vague cloudy look replaced it. Salty tears bite at her eyes. She can't stand seeing him like this, so distant, so sad.

She looks down at her feet. If she can't handle him in pain, then she'll just not be there to deal with it.

But she needs to know one thing.

She raises her head, and looks into his eyes. "I can hear her sometimes."

He looks at Kairi, seeing her for the first time. He takes a few moments to take the sight of her in, trying to remember every small detail, as if he will never see her, the _real _her, again. Her eyes are clear, but filled with pity.

Finally he answers. "Me too."

The one moment of understanding passes by. She walks again, and as she passes him, he swears he can smell sea-salt ice cream.

A/N: Hello, me again. Hopefully this one has less grammatical and/or spelling errors than the last chapter. And this is only Part One of Chapter Two. I don't quite have the rest done yet. So sorry. Review please! Also, this is late. I wanted to update it yesterday (4/15) but for some reason I couldn't upload the document.


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